Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Whenever I do ethnic recipes like this Greek tzatziki sauce,
I’ll usually go online and listen to an audio dictionary or some YouTube videos
to verify the pronunciation.Of
course, just listening to it doesn’t mean I’ll actually be able to pronounce it
that way. A western New York accent is a strange and unpredictable thing, but
at least I know how far off I am.

This time things were a little different.I must have listened to a half-dozen
examples, and they all were fairly unique. Everything from how I say it,
TA-ZEE-KEY, to something that sounded a lot like CHA-CHEE-KEE, which, by the
way, is my new favorite way to say it. Just for fun, maybe you all can leave
your best phonetic spelling of “Tzatziki” in the comments section, and we’ll
see what the consensus is.

Unlike the pronunciation, one thing that everyone will agree
on is that this garlicky yogurt sauce is truly of one of the world’s great
condiments. This is quite literally delicious on anything savory, and with
grilling season upon us, you’ll want this one in your regular rotation. I hope
you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

39 comments:

Playing along with Chef, I propose Zah-Tiki: I'm suggesting the first T and the second Z be silent. My logic? Well, I have heard it commonly pronounced (as you suggest) as Ta-Zee-Key, which seems like an arbitrary decision to ignore the first Z and the second T...why not the reverse? ;) Call it what you like, its delicious by any name!

Great video, Chef. Im Greek and these are the perfect ingredients. We use Daisy sour cream instead, very thick and tangy. If you cut the cucumber length wise down the middle and scrape out the insides with an upside down spoon you can skip the whole draining process. Cheers!

One of my very very favorite condiments in the world, for sure! I loveeee Gyros, and this is a must sauce for those, of course. I had a Greek person tell me that it is pronounced Zat-zee-kee, but I used to just call it cucumber sauce before I learned how to say it. I don't care what you call it, as long as I get to eat it! ;) <3 Thanks Chef!!

Love it and make the same recipe quite often. We eat it with chicken and pitas and use a variation for our fish tacos, a little less cucumber, add jalapeno and use lime instead of lemon...yummy. Thanks!

I used to HATE garlic, and was not able to digest it.. Until tzatziki. I have no idea why , but really fresh almost-three-ingredients tzatziki makes garlic bearable to me. But Then I can smell it on my skin for days.. Oh well, great against moskitos!! Perfect for nights at the beach! :)

Tzatziki was the first thing I learn how to make from my mother and when I make it I spread it almost on everything. It even goes great with pizza! You made it exactly the traditional way but one difference, we add olive oil. It makes it richer in flavor... and with more calories!

I would agree with the tzatziki pronunciation. think of saying "cats" out loud, then "cats-ah". The second syllable is the beginning of tzatziki. ts(ah)-ts(ee)-kee. :) Or if you wanna go to the second one, it's easy...as in ih-(ts-ee)-zee. That's the (kee) to it all!

Awesome recipe chef John and one of my favourite sauces. I usually really load it up with garlic.

For PickaColour and the question about freezing Tzatziki the answer is that it probably doesn't freeze well. Cucumbers tend to go to mush when frozen and the yogurt can turn lumpy. The flavour may change some as well. If one really wanted to freeze it I would suggest freezing a small batch and see if you like what you get.

Made this recipe just as written using 1% Greek yogurt, vinegar, both dill and mint. It's great. I tend to like a little olive oil with my (Armenian) tzatziki, even just a teaspoon. But to keep it lower in calories it can be served with optional olive oil drizzled on the top.

I made both your pita bread (which I made gyros out of)and the tzatziki sauce. It was very simple and delicious. Watching your recipes builds up my confidence in cooking and makes me want to try new things. Thank you Chef John.

Nice recipe Chef John but how about you stick to the cooking and leave the comments about the economic crisis out. You are American and this global crisis is the tsunami of your bank break down in 2008. But really, is that what they tell you over there? that the Greeks are responsible for the crisis? How about you read the news once in a while or if it's hard work, take a look at this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/. The filmmaker is from your hometown by the way. Best, Yannis.

I made this and it was delish! I used some fresh mint from the garden. It went great with some sirloin done up with salt/pepper, olive oil, and the juice of half a lemon. I figured keep it simple and sort of Greek inspired. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you again Chef John. It's awesome cooking along at home and getting a feel for the why-fores of cooking.

This is almost the same as I make except I add a little dried dill and I also scrape out the seeds before chopping.

My favourite use for tzatziki (and yes, I pronounce it that way - didn't realise it was difficult for some people) is as a chip dip! Low of fat/calories and HUGE on flavour! I prefer this over other chip dips any day!